Maserati's refreshed Quattroporte has all the right ingredients for posh and comfortable cruising

by
Brian Harper | June 20, 2016

Small

Medium

Large

PALERMO, Sicily – It is doubtful Luigi Villoresi, one of the great Italian pre- and early post-war race drivers, truly appreciated the beauty of Palermo’s Royal Park, better known as La Favorita. He was too busy screaming along the Viale Ercole in his Maserati race car — a single-seater 6CM in 1939 and a 4CL in 1940 — on his way to winning the famed Targa Florio to appreciate the vast wooden tracts, the magnificent Chinese Villa or the sheer grandness of Mount Pellegrino.

At a much more sedate pace and in a great deal more comfort, we get to take in the pleasures of the park and the long straight of the Viale Ercole while behind the wheel of the revamped 2017 Maserati Quattroporte, specifically the S Q4 version.

Maserati’s motorsport success is intrinsically tied to the Targa Florio, which, for most of its existence (from 1906 to 1973) was an open-road endurance race held in the mountains of Sicily near Palermo. While the first events consisted of a whole circuit of the island, the track length in the last 18 years of its existence as part of the World Sportscar Championship was limited to the Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie, a 72-kilometre course that was lapped 11 times. However, from 1937 to 1940, a 5.3-kilometre circuit was created through La Favorita. Alfieri Maserati, one of the four brothers who founded the company, won the Targa’s 1.5-litre class in 1926 behind the wheel of a Tipo 26. The sports car manufacturer would take outright wins from 1937 to 1940, all at La Favorita.

2017 Maserati Quattroporte

Were they alive today, racing something as large and luxurious as the new Quattroporte would certainly horrify both Alfieri and Villoresi, though they would have sold their souls to get either of the full-sized sedan’s available Ferrari-produced engines — the rear-wheel-drive GTS’ colossal 530-horsepower, twin-turbo 3.8-litre V8 or the all-wheel-drive S Q4’s 410-horsepower, twin-turbo 3.0-litre V6.

However, as daily transportation — at least for the moneyed class — there is much about the Quattroporte’s demeanour that impresses, including the 2017 model’s “improved contents and new design features.” The S 4Q driven has plenty of power for all occasions, blitzing the autostrada at speeds significantly more than the posted 130 km/h limit – which seemed to be universally ignored by all except Fiat Pandas and poky transport trucks.

Stability and grip were well above the norm. Despite strong crosswinds, the car budged not a centimetre, even while traversing bridges over broad valleys. And when my co-driver had clear passage up the Via Renato de Martino, a series of curves and switchbacks carved out of the side of Mount Erice on the way up to the ancient town of Erice, he had us hooning around the turns at rally speeds — without the four-wheel drift — the car displaying moderate understeer.

RELATED

With 50/50 weight distribution and an extensive use of aluminum in the chassis, body and suspension to keep weight down to a manageable level (about 2,100 kilograms for the S Q4), performance is well in keeping with Maserati tradition. But that’s we unrepentant scofflaws merely taking advantage of the Sport mode’s quicker throttle response and maximum engine boost while grooving to the glorious aria emanating from the exhaust pipes, especially when downshifting the ZF eight-speed automatic transmission and blasting through tunnels. For the more genteel, the Quattroporte is just a very cool car; a sleek and stylish, molto-Italiano counterpoint to the big German battle cruisers – the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, BMW 7 Series and the Audi A8 it competes with.

Even the cognoscenti might have to squint to catch the exterior revisions to the big four-door, though. The particularly observant will notice a new bumper design with a matte black profile at the front and the matte black extractor at the rear. The new front grille is more pointed and grand, with new vertical chrome strips for contrast. Other distinguishing details include matte black side skirts and the restyled exterior mirrors. An electrically adjustable air shutter has been fitted in the front grille between the air vents and the radiator; in addition to controlling the engine’s fluid temperature, it, together with the new bumpers, air conveyor and flat bottom, improves the sedan’s aerodynamic drag by 10 per cent.

The improvements to the cabin are equally subtle — the redesigned central dashboard now accommodates a capacitive high-resolution 8.4-inch screen with multi-touch function. The lower console is also redesigned and now features a rotary knob for volume and function control.

2017 Maserati Quattroporte

Bigger news is Maserati launching two unique trim options. They’re called GranLusso and GranSport, and are recognizable thanks to their distinct exterior touches and unique interiors. GranLusso is the Quattroporte at its poshest, offering a higher level of luxury using even nicer materials and special features “in the finest tradition of Italian craftsmanship.” Take the Ermenegildo Zegna Edition for instance. The cabin features a patented silk fabric on the seats, doors, headliner and sun visors. Then there’s open pore Radica wood on the dashboard and the leather steering wheel with wooden insert. Externally, GranLusso is distinctive for its front lower fascia design, subtle spoilers front and back and side skirts.

We drove the GranSport, which plays to the Quattroporte’s sportier side — and motorsport tradition — with its more aggressive appearance. That includes 21-inch rubber, deeper air intakes in the lower fascia to improve cooling, rear spoiler and the back end’s centre fuselage with two side pockets that focus on the exhausts. The interior gets redesigned front and rear seats, new sport steering wheel, in carbon fibre or full leather, aluminum gearbox paddles and stainless steel sport pedals.

And, if like us, channelling your favourite Italian ace is part of your daily routine — or you find yourself hip-deep in crazed scooter riders and hyper-aggressive drivers, as we did navigating downtown Palermo — know this: A new package of advanced driver assistance systems is now available as an option. It includes adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go functionality, as well as lane departure warning, forward collision warning with advanced brake assist and automated emergency braking. A new surround-view camera is available as an option in combination with the driver assistance package.

RELATED

After three-and-a-half years in international markets, including Canada, this latest-generation Quattroporte is still very much a rara avis — about 24,000 have been sold in 72 countries — in a high-visibility segment. For comparison, Mercedes sold more than 22,000 S-Classes just in Canada and the U.S. last year.

What you get from this unique luxury sport-sedan is a quintessential Italian personality — power, passion, innate style and, naturally, history — plus the improvements that just make it a better-driving car.

Sales of the 2017 Quattroporte will start in late August for the GranLusso editions, November for the GranSport. Pricing will be announced closer to the car’s release date, though no major increase – $121,400 is the starting MSRP of a 2016 S Q4 – is expected.